SEQUIM — Bill Dickinson, who was hired Monday as Sequim’s new police chief, saw law enforcement work as his calling at age 21 when he became a part-time patrol officer working weekends for the Cle Elum and Roslyn departments in the early 1970s.
“It whet my appetite to work fulltime,” said Dickinson, 60, who started from small beginnings in the Cascade Mountain communities with fewer than seven officers between them.
Sequim City Manager Steve Burkett announced Monday that Dickinson, a 39-year lawman, was his choice for chief over four other candidates, all with less experience but strong qualifications.
Dickinson starts Sept. 7 and will make a starting salary of $93,000 a year.
After a long career in King County, he spent seven years as Tigard, Ore., police chief.
Today, Dickinson is anxious to return to small-town police work after a year in a job he called “limited” in scope — a fraud investigator for the state Department of Labor & Industries.
His recent position came after 30 years with the King County Sheriff’s Department, in which he moved up from patrol deputy to major — and during which he was contracted as police chief of SeaTac and Burien over 10 years.
Noting that he has at least six years until he qualifies for Social Security retirement age, Dickinson said from his Tacoma office Monday: “I fully expect to finish my career in Sequim.”
Now overseeing a department of about 30, Dickinson said he will rely heavily on one of the Sequim police chief finalists he beat out for the job, Lt. Sheri Crain, who has acted as Sequim’s interim chief.
While Burkett said Crain is not being considered as assistant chief, Dickinson said:
“She’s been interim chief and has been with department for a number of years, so I am going to be very dependent on her to give me her institutional background and knowledge.”
Dickinson called Crain a “keen competitor” for the chief’s job.
“For all the help she gives me, maybe I will be able to help her, too,” Dickinson said.
Born in Bremerton and given his first rowboat at 12, Dickinson literally has lived on the water for the past 10 years in a 50-foot diesel trawler, moored at Marina Duwamish Yacht Club.
There, he has lived with his wife of 39 years, and they hope to move the trawler to John Wayne Marina on Sequim Bay to live.
He has two sons in their 30s — one a police officer in Lynnwood and the other a wildland firefighter for the Department of Natural Resources.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Seattle University.
A pilot, Dickinson has also moonlighted for Seattle radio and television stations mainly as a traffic reporter but who also assisted in shooting live aerial video over news scenes.
He worked for KVI radio for five years, KOMO radio and TV for five years and KIRO-TV for two years.
“I actually know what it’s like to be on the other side,” he said, adding he understands the importance of getting out information so long as it does not compromise investigations.
He sees himself as “approachable” to all.
Dickinson even tried his hand as a firefighter in Kitsap County at age 18 saying, “I thought it was an exciting thing to do.”
Working for King County involved a great volume of work, where he learned “a little bit of everything,” working from rural reaches to the urban streets of South Seattle.
“I experienced pretty much all of the things that come with a higher crime rate,” he said.
Burkett asked the previous chief of five years, Bob Spinks, to find another job, and Spinks left July 2.
Dickinson said: “I feel like I am stepping into a well-run department.”
Asked how he would describe his management style, Dickinson said past aptitude tests have identified him as “an amiable driver.”
“I am driven to get things done for the community, but I am a pretty easygoing guy,” he said.
He plans to come up to visit Sequim this week and meet with department personnel.
“I think it’s an opportunity to continue my work as a chief in a community,” said Dickinson, who knew former Clallam County Sheriff Joe Hawe and attended the Port Angeles funeral of former Clallam Sheriff’s Deputy Wally Davis, who was shot to death in the line of duty in the 2000.
Citing how Sequim has exploded in growth in the past 10 years, Dickinson said he feels the city has still managed to retain its small-town feel.
The new chief was selected from an initial pool of 60 applicants.
“Dickinson was clearly the best qualified and the best fit for Sequim based upon our interviews with the finalists conducted by city department heads and members of the Police Department,” Burkett said.
“I was amazed by the positive comments I received during my reference checking from others who have worked for and with Bill. He has definitely left a positive legacy in the other organizations he has served.”
Besides Crain, Dickinson had three other competitors for the job: Matthew “Matt” Kosec, a Port Townsend native who is a police lieutenant in Texas; Todd Muilenberg, a lieutenant with the Scottsdale, Ariz., Police Department; and Julius “Phil” Schenck, Sunnyside assistant police chief who has family roots in Sequim.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
